DHL Global Forwarding, Freight, the air, ocean and road freight specialist of Deutsche Post DHL Group, is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year. Back in 1815, the history of yellow-branded logistics started with Louis Danzas establishing Danzas, which would become a world-renowned shipping company over the course of the following 20 decades.

Today, the air, ocean, road and rail logistic solutions are being further developed by DHL Global Forwarding, Freight one of the four operating divisions of Deutsche Post DHL Group.

“The innovative and entrepreneurial spirit that kept the company at the top of the industry over the last two centuries is part of our DNA,” says Frank Appel, CEO Deutsche Post DHL Group. “We constantly work on ways to redefine logistics and create new approaches to improve supply chains, in order to drive global trade, connect people and foster prosperity across the world.”

Danzas’ history began with goods being transported by horse and wagon on the trade lane between Basel and Mulhouse. Later, after the invention of railway and steamship, new transportation routes were developed. While shipping by land and sea was continuously growing, Danzas took advantage of the new opportunities and offered overseas deliveries to New York.

DHL also kept pace with progress in other areas. Whether it is bar code scanning, the just-in-time delivery concept, or IT solutions, DHL has always been driving the further development of the industry. Nowadays, DHL Global Forwarding, Freight manages the logistics behind global events such as Cirque du Soleil, ensuring everything is in place for the shows to run smoothly in each part of the world. They transport wind mills and space-spectrometers, carefully move the sensitive musical instruments of Gewandhausorchester on their tours, and help to ship over 10,000 horsepower over 19 race locations across five continents in time for the next Formula One race.

On the occasion of this jubilee Amadou Diallo, CEO of DHL Freight, published a retrospective “200 Years of Logistics – Danzas and DHL Shape an Industry”. The book guides the reader on more than 100 pages through the years, from the company’s origin in Alsace and is available in book stores.